Monday Memories | Valentine's Day 2015

Welcome back to Monday Memories where I share a memory from way back or share some memories recently made! Today I'm sharing with you our Valentine's Day adventure!

Husband had a 4 day weekend so we kind of celebrated all here and there throughout that. But since Valentine's Day was on Saturday, we decided to do a day date! Last year we went to DC for our 6 month celebration. It was quite the adventure. Even though nothing went as planned, we had a fantastic day. I am an art lover though and we didn't get to explore any of the major galleries. So for Valentine's Day, we decided to go back to DC and hit some places we didn't get to last time.

We woke got up and got going sooner that when usually do on Saturdays, exchanged gifts (more on those to come), and prepared for the day. We had a Chick-fil-A date on the way (YUM!) and found the Metro! This was our first time taking the Metro (by suggestion of a friend) and I'm so so glad we did! It was nice to ride into the city without having to do much navigation on our own.

Once in DC, we went straight for National Art Gallery. I studied Art History quite a bit in high school and college so I was of course fascinated. Even though Joel's not into Art as much as I am, there were plenty of exhibits that he liked and also lots of big comfy couches for him to rest on while I wandered. Seeing so many paintings in person from some of my favorite artists was amazing.

After several hours, we'd had our fill and headed over to Starbucks for Joel to get his mocha fix. The weather was warm enough during the afternoon for us to sit on a park bench without shivering. We ate hot dogs, listened to the street sax performer, admired all the architecture, and fed lots of birds. Joel even got the opportunity to buy a homeless man lunch. It was a perfect afternoon.

Next stop was the Air & Space Museum. This was of course way more fascinating to Joel than to me, but I really enjoyed the space shuttle section. Seeing how people live on there was very interesting. After a couple hours, our feet were tired and we were ready to head back to the Metro.

We arrived at our car and headed to the nearest Olive Garden! There was no surprise when the hostess told us the wait time was an hour. While standing around inside with more people than seats, we noticed it had started to snow. Huge snowflakes were painting a beautiful scene outside. We decided to leave the crowded lobby and weather the cold on the park bench. It had been such a perfect day and with the snow falling around us, we were reflecting on all the fun we'd had.

The day took a not fun turn though.

As you might can guess, the park bench wonder didn't last long before our fingers started getting tingly. We decided to head back in to the packed full entry and wait our turn. After 3-4 minutes I went to grab something out of my purse and realized it wasn't on my shoulder. I had left it on the bench outside. During those few minutes someone had grabbed it and decided to keep for their own. I spent the next 45 minutes calling to cancel all cards in my wallet.

So even though we had a somewhat stressful start to dinner, the evening was still good. We had a wonderful dinner with a perfect window view of the perfectly falling snow. There was only one problem with that beautiful snow...... we were still about an hour and a half from home.

We left to find that the roads were slick and the state was not prepared. That hour and a half turned into three and a half as we poked home in my Chevy Cruze. We were so thankful to finally arrive home and rest on the couch next to the fire.

I'm so thankful for Joel and that he shares the love of celebrating with me. I always wondered and imagined what Valentine's would be like with a husband. Even though sometimes you get your purse stolen and you get caught in a snowstorm, it's way better that I could have dreamed up.

CONVERSATION

1 comments:

about me

Hi there! I'm Brandy, the writer and photographer here at A Sweet Aroma. I hope you find this space to be one of encouragement at transparency as I blog and photograph my way through this beautiful life.